Sunday, September 13, 2009

Looking around the blogosphere and various news sites, there seems to be some question as to how many people actually showed up for the Great American Tea Party II. Unfortunately there weren’t any webcams or cell phones back in the day of the original staged revolt, so we can’t do a comparison with that first group. However, someone with a bent for good history research could probably tell us how the colonists’ newssheets were spinning the story versus what the word was back in King George’s general vicinity regarding the reports.

My sense is that the news then was a mixed bag, just as it is now. The idea of breaking away from England was not universally appreciated or approved in the colonies. Many loyalists moved to Canada rather than switch allegiance. And had George Washington and his motley crew not miraculously prevailed against the King’s troops, we’d all have universal health care by now, here in Baja Canada.

One thing is for sure: there would have been no Tea Party II to protest our slide into socialism. Government intrusion would already be an accomplished fact and we’d be, one and all, polite citizens of Her Majesty’s North American Commonwealth (except for those noisy French Québécois over in the corner).

But the tea has been spilled for the second time now. And just like the first demonstration, there is no undoing this action; for those who have escaped, there is no going back to the sheeple fold where government is your friend.

All the major blogs, left and right, covered the march of the tea-baggers on Washington. The first noises happened so long ago - back in February - that it’s hard to remember those beginnings, but those of us who heard that first volley in the video with Rick Santelli were immediately energized:

That seems so long ago now, but it was only seven months or so. From there it grew…and grew….and grew:- - - - - - - - -On Tax Day, the Baronand I showed up in the cold and drizzle to hear the first speakers talk about taking the country back from big government [I include both links just so you can see the comments section on each report. Reading them makes you able to see the momentum building].

On July 4th, we went to the Second Tea Party. This time the weather was clement and the venue was much nicer, with shade trees and the tall statue of Andrew Jackson that is a prerequisite in any small southern town in America. The talks were briefer; the focus had begun to tighten on the vast socialist slide that was being prepared for us.

By then, the Tea Party Express was being formed. The planning for this event must have been monumental, but as it grew in scope, the groups wanting to sponsor the event also increased.

From what I can gather, there were several PACs which served as the impetus: The National Tax-Limitation Committee, and Our Country Deserves Better.

The Tea Party Express provided a map of the cities they proposed to visit along their winding trail. Starting in Sacramento California on August 28th ,they finished in New Jersey, the last stop before the buses final swing down to Washington. There, the Express joined all the others converging on The Capitol, determined to stop the Obama juggernaut.

You can follow their journey at the T.P.E. blog, which documented their travels across America. I linked the page which begins on August 30th, as they travel through Nevada, headed to Arizona. It’s worth your while to click through the pages to see the photographs they collected on the trip. The last rally, in New Jersey at night and in the rain, just seems to energize the participants. The fact that it was September 11th and they weren’t far from Ground Zero must have lent some gravitas to the gathering. A 9/11 survivor spoke to the crowd.

The next morning they were off to the final stop: Washington, D.C. As they pulled out, buses from surrounding areas were converging on the Capitol also. In the nearest town to us, a bastion of Obama’s, four buses left town at 5:30 a.m. to make the trek north.

The story is then picked up by 9/12 D.C., and by the hundreds of blogs across the country that followed the trails leading to this historic destination.

Now the story has sidetracks: how many people were really there? That is, are the conservatives lying and inflating the numbers in attendance? They must be, that many people wouldn’t show up on their own. Yet the Daily Mail puts forth a mighty high number, and anecdotal information and pictures makes you wonder.

Here’s the most interesting of the videos I came across, this one is at The Frugal Café, though I am sure it’s viral by now:

Note that the time lapse is three-and-a-half hours of a moving crowd compressed into forty seconds. Perhaps some of our readers can guesstimate the numbers from this bit of information?

The Baron, who did the mapping from Google for me, says that the distance measured from the site of the Plaza to the gathering point at the Capitol is about 1.2 miles. It’s hard to be accurate, but let’s say the photographer is looking down Pennsylvania Avenue for somewhat more than one mile. Pennsylvania Avenue is (I think) six lanes wide and the passing crowd takes up all those lanes and spills over onto the sidewalks. It moves along for more than three hours before ending up at the Capitol.

On the map, the circle represents where the camera was stationed. The "X" marks their destination at The Capitol. The long pink line is Pennsylvania Avenue.

Whatever the number of people we see in that time-lapse, it was certainly well beyond “tens of thousands” and far past anyone’s expectations.

Here’s a thought: next September 12th weekend, will there be another Tea Party Express? Will it be permitted? Will President Obama fly away into the Midwest, like he did this time, so he won’t have to witness another stupendous Messiah FAIL?

Even now, people all over the country are planning their next event. This movement is not going to go away. Its time has come and will remain until things change. What those “things” will be is hard to say. However, like many of you, I am uncertain about future events being good ones, especially if they are in the hands of the federal government. No doubt all those folks who showed up yesterday to make their voices heard are concerned, too. I’ll bet they could be heard even in Minnesota.

You can run but you can’t hide, Mr. President. Get used to it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It took me awhile to get over my extreme disappointment at not being able to attend this demonstration. There was no way I could’ve traveled that distance, much less marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, but the pangs of missing an historic event so near to home remain. They will pass.

To all of you who attended: congratulations on a job well done. You deserve a medal for this one. And surely some entrepreneur is already selling “I Survived the 9/12/09 Tea Party in D.C.” t-shirts. I sure hope they are!

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comments:

There are many of those who dismiss the Tea Party movements as contrived or irrelevant. Obviously, the Obama administration, Congress, and the MSM. The blogosphere does its best to marginalize Tea Partier's as well. Chief amongst them is the "one who should not be named", aka Charles at LGF. His "lizard" army which is nothing more than a few butt licking sycophants is continually trying to portray all of the Tea Partites as "Paulians", "Kooks", etc.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I have covered Tea Parties as a free lance photographer and have met the people in attendance. Contrary to Charles' and the MSM's depictions, most Tea Partiers are working people who are tired of the government's lack of moral and fiscal control. They are housewives, doctors, firemen, bankers, students, wait staff, retired people, etc. They are Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who are united in the cause to take back this country from the Congressional pigs who are subverting laws and the Constitution.

Rick Santelli has one very significant point: It is time for this nation's people to implement a Federal Referendum Initiative Process whereby American citizens can put in place legal rulings that control FEDERAL TERM LIMITS, IMMIGRATION LAW, CAMPAIGN FINANCE, SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM and the RETIREMENT BENEFITS of our FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. End of story.

Tea party participants are the people coming to topple the out of touch Washington elite who have forgotten that they are servants of the people, not the jumped up aristocracy they imagine themselves to be.

They don't have the pitchforks out yet, because they are a decent, polite people, unlike the slimers in Congress but they've served notice. The 2010 elections will be a figurative blood bath. All of Acorn's corruption will not save the legislators who remain deaf to the people's voice, the people WHO ARE PAYING FOR EVERYTHING.

Baron, re your reference to French Canadians as somehow an exception to the statist lockstep because they're loud: They're loud all right, but FOR socialism. Like their French ancestors (who though so little of them that they ditched them for Guadeloupe), they are socialist to the core. Quebec is the most socialist province in Canada, the tail that wags the rest of the country and has dragged it left by a constant shakedown and empty threats to leave.

With 1/4 of the Canadian population, it is an economic bust compared to the only English speaking province of comparable size, Ontario and oil rich Alberta. The feds send truckloads of money from those unlucky provinces to the eternally whining Quebec to bring its standard of living up from the miserable level it would be at with its stubborn socialism.

Now those provinces are hurting but Quebec is still collecting its pound of flesh. French Quebeckers are shameless pampering themselves with social programs they can't afford, subsidized by other people's money.

Any images that you can pass this way for free would be appreciated. I realized that as a free-lancer, you depend on your camera and your eye for your livelihood, but in the event you have some freebies, we'd love to see them. Or even direct us to links where you got paid! It would be good to see your work...

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laine--

'twas I, not the Baron who made the point about the "other" Canadians. And the only point I was trying to make about the French in Canada is that they are not polite. It never occurred to me that anyone would consider them other than socialists. It's a DNA thing or something. Left over from the scars of their failed, bloody Revolution, maybe?

Three cheers to all of the patriots who marched in this Tea Party! I have friends that flew all the way from Arizona to attend this historic event! Thank you for posting the time-lapse video. I had no idea the event had grown so impressively large.

To witness this kind of passion and personal involvement coming from everyday citizens is invigorating to say the least. There is an energy that is building. I can feel it in so many of my everyday conversations with friends and associates.

...In reference to a recent CNN video you posted: GOD, GUNS, GUTS, AND AMERICAN PICKUP TRUCKS, I thought you'd like to know that I am now selling Mr. Muller's now-famous motto on a very cool t-shirt. I loved his interview and had to call him. He's a great guy and he gave me permission to print the shirt:

Yes, this is what struck me in the photographs I saw. Everyone seemed very decent and nice. I am one of those people who trusts spontaneous gut impressions, or, I should say, I've learned to trust them over the years. The people I saw in these photographs are good people. While the people I saw in the photos of leftist demonstrations had something demonic, angry, and resentful about them.

You're right. Our minister went with her husband and she said it was a wonderful crowd.

She sent us a happy, upbeat email the next day. Met people from all over the country and felt she was part of an historic occasion.

BTW, if I didn't mention it before: all those people were there for hours and when they'd cleared out, the area was cleaner than when they'd arrived. Unlike the pictures they showed after Obama's inauguration. What a disaster!

The funny thing is, I think the gesture to pick up litter was spontaneous. In the directions we got about attending (I kept hoping, most unrealistically, that I could go), there were lots of instructions, but clean up wasn't one. Yet people did it anyway, out of respect for the place and the occasion.

Yes, this is what struck me in the photographs I saw. Everyone seemed very decent and nice. I am one of those people who trusts spontaneous gut impressions, or, I should say, I've learned to trust them over the years. The people I saw in these photographs are good people. While the people I saw in the photos of leftist demonstrations had something demonic, angry, and resentful about them.

Exactly. It reminds me of the people (most of them liberals) who compare Prague '68 with Paris '68. But when I look at the pictures, I see two parallel worlds. In Prague '68, I see decent, normal people; while in Paris, it looks like a crowd has just escaped a mental institution. I'm afraid liberals are unable to make the difference between freedom and crack-addiction.

Which makes me think about the upside down world we live in: the decent and the kind are considered "right-wing extremists" - whereas the thugs and the bullies are perceived as humanists.